TRANSCRIPTREPORTER: Vegetarians might want to sit this one out … It's the 7th annual World Gravy Wrestling Championships -- Yes … there is a competition that requires contestants to roll around in meat juices. And while roast is traditionally served on Sundays in England, there was plenty of Lancashire gravy to go around at this showdown on Monday. Referee Ken Claxon explained that it takes a certain kind of person to win the title. REFEREE KEN KLAXON: "A good gravy wrestler has got to have a sense of humour, got to be willing to make a fool of themselves and got to be willing to throw themselves around." REPORTER: As the knockout tournament came to a close, men's champ Michael Jarrett offered his take on pan juices. MEN'S CHAMP MICHAEL JARRET: "The gravy is warm, heavy and tastes like sausages. I think all sports should be done in gravy. Everything - boxing, football - would be much more entertaining if it was done in gravy." REPORTER: Now that's food for thought.

VOCABULARYGravy is a brown sauce made by adding flour to the juices that come out of meat while it is cooking (see here for recipes).

COMMENTAs usual in Reuters' "Oddly Enough" reports, there are a few double meanings ...1. To get dirty also means to have sex (according to Christine Aguilera, in any case)—though I'm not sure that was the intended meaning here!2. Beef is an informal word for 'complaint', as well as being a source of juice for making gravy. • What's your beef? (see here for the origin of this expression).3. If something gives you food for thought, it makes you think seriously and carefully. • The programme certainly provides plenty of food for thought.However, I'm surprised they missed the opportunity use the idiom ride the gravy train, which means to live a life of luxury. Pink Floyd used the expression in the song 'Have a Cigar' on their 'Wish You Were Here' album:And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it riding the gravy train.

No fewer than three UK editorial cartoonists used this event as the basis for a cartoon on the Syrian crisis. The above cartoon is by Dave Brown from The Independent.

Obama starts to quote the 'I have a dream' line, but changes it to 'nightmare' when he spots what looks like the ghost of Osama bin Laden giving the thumbs up on the right, meaning that he approves Obama's plan to bomb Syria.

EXPLANATIONObama would like to bomb Syria in retaliation for the chemical attacks allegedly carried out by the Assad regime, but in doing so he might be helping the al-Qaeda elements fighting on the side of the Syrian rebels. That is his (and many other people's) nightmare.

VOCABULARYA nightmare is a dream that is very frightening or unpleasant, and metaphorically, an experience that is very frightening and unpleasant, or very difficult to deal with. • The trip turned into a nightmare when they both got sick. A common journalistic phrase is nightmare scenario, i.e., the worst thing that could happen. • Extremism in Syria is President Obama's nightmare scenario.

THE OTHER CARTOONS• Martin Rowson (The Guardian) - who also uses the 'nightmare' idea• Mac (The Daily Mail) - who shows David Cameron addressing parliament

David Cameron was forced to delay plans for immediate military strikes on Syria last night after being warned he faced losing a Commons vote. Full story >>

VOCABULARYA mutiny is a refusal by people, usually soldiers or sailors, to continue obeying a person in authority. • A series of coup attempts and mutinies within the armed forces destabilized the regime.

August 28, 2013

I recently came back from a week's holiday in Switzerland. I flew from Paris to Geneva with easyJet and spent a couple of nights in each of Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux, which are all very different but well worth visiting (especially Geneva). I had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, and the scenery was spectacular. The only drawback was that everything was so expensive that I lived off sandwiches and fruit for a week (not really, but almost). Anyway, I thought it would be nice to do a crossword on my new favourite country, so here it is. As usual, you can also download a PDF version, or access an interactive web version which will work on iOS devices.

This cartoon by Chappatte from The International Herald Tribune features a well-known English idiom. If you box yourself into a corner, you get yourself into a difficulty from which you can't extricate oneself. For example, By volunteering to do more work in the office and then taking a freelance job, George has boxed himself into a corner.

BACKGROUNDA year after President Obama warned the Syrian regime that using chemical weapons would cross a red line, Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces stand accused of killing hundreds in a gas attack. The attack raises new concerns that the so-called "red line" in Syria has been crossed, violated and effectively ignored. The situation compounds the Mideast challenges facing the Obama administration, as his national security team continues to deliberate on how to handle the unrest in Egypt -- another trouble spot where the U.S. is keeping itself at a distance. (source: Fox News)

THE CARTOONIn the cartoon Obama is shown reading a statement saying that Mr. Assad has boxed himself into a corner (by using chemical weapons), but in reality it is Obama who has boxed himself (and the US military) into a corner with his "red line" threat. If he does nothing, he will appear weak, but if he decides to intervene, the consequences could be disastrous (look what happened in Iraq).

NOTE A variation of "box oneself into a corner" is to "paint oneself into a corner", an idiom which is often used as the basis for cartoons (see here for examples).

August 27, 2013

A start-up company in California creates life-sized remote controlled superheroes that soar through the air. Elly Park reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: He is faster than a speeding bullet and is so strong that he is called 'the man of steel'… and now you can see him soar through the skies of southern California. This Superman, however, is made out of plastic foam and is remote-controlled from the ground. Designer and engineer Otto Dieffenbach is the man controlling the button and runs a start-up company that specializes in making radio-controlled planes that look like everyone's favorite superheroes. While this Ironman will never save lives like Tony Stark in the movie, they do have one thing in common: hordes of young fans. OTTO DIEFFENBACH: "Usually the reaction you see, really amongst the little kids with the Superman and Iron Man, they're just coming up and just barraging you like a machine gun with questions because they're so interested and that's actually why I created him was to inspire the next generation to get into the hobby." REPORTER: Right now the custom-built heroes are too expensive for commercial retail, but they are available for a flyby for promotional purposes.

August 26, 2013

ABOUT BLAIR ENGLISHBlair English is run by Chris Clayton, an English teacher based in Madrid. The website provides a series of free and quick online business, cv/resume and social English vocabulary exercises at different levels. Each of the exercises starts with a text where some of its vocabulary is highlighted in bold. This text is then followed by a quiz where the answers to the questions are the highlighted vocabulary from the text. When an answer is correct, an 'info' box will appear after the answer box, where more information about the word/phrases and how to use it correctly is contained. The info box also contains a Spanish translation of the word/phrase. There are also some articles on the website. They are written in simple English and contain advice on how to do things like write a business email or choose an English course.

WHAT I THINKThe site is well-designed and there's a lot of useful content for business English students. However, it's a pity that the dialogues are only available in written form. It would have been much more useful had there been an audio version as well. And I'm not sure that an article featuring online poker tips is really appropriate for this sort of website!

August 25, 2013

Plans now exist for more than 150,000 homes to be built on protected land, an analysis of council documents has found. The sites include some of England’s most scenic areas, including parts of Dorset and the rural outskirts of York. Full story >>

VOCABULARYA green belt is an area of open land around a city where building is strictly controlled. • New roads are cutting into the green belt. In the Telegraph headline green belt is used as a compound modifier, which is why it has a hyphen.

August 24, 2013

The City of London has banned high-tech recycling bins from collecting phone data from passers-by. The CEO of Renew, the start-up who owns the bins, says their technology trial has been misunderstood. But as firms increasingly look to monetise data collection, concerns about privacy are growing. Joanna Partridge reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: It looks innocuous enough, but this rubbish bin has been accused of spying on passers-by. The firm Renew brought the bomb-proof recycling pods to London's financial district before last year's Olympics. In May they fitted a dozen of their bins with a device that detects nearby smartphones - and collects data from them. Kaveh Memari, Renew's CEO, says the trial has been misunderstood.KAVEH MEMARI, CEO OF RENEW: "One of the core considerations that we have is what is our reach - how many people walk past our network?" REPORTER: The ORB technology inside the pod looked for smartphones which had their wifi turned on - and then logged the device's unique number. The trial had already finished when the local authority asked Renew to stop collecting the data. PTC Renew's ORB technology was able to detect how far away a smartphone or device was, the speed it was passing by at, and who manufactured the device. That data was all anonymous, but by collecting it, Renew became the latest firm to face a backlash over fears about privacy. KAVEH MEMARI, CEO OF RENEW: "It will never be "Hello John", because it will never know who you are unless you volunteer that information to it, it will know that it's a device. And that's where I think some of the concerns were, that it was tracking the person." REPORTER: Who collects data through our internet activity and how it's used has been a hot topic since revelations about the U.S's online surveillance program. Peter Gooch from Deloitte says it's also big business. PETER GOOCH, PRIVACY PRACTICE LEADER, DELOITTE: "Information absolutely is power. More and more organisations are looking into the use of data. If they're not doing it already, it's likely that they will be in the future. So whether it's a bank, a social networking site, a telco, everyone is starting to realise that they can monetise the use of this data so it's only going to get bigger and the issue is only going to grow continously." REPORTER: It's still some way off, but one use of our data could help retailers tailor specific services to certain customers. And while some of us may feel this is invading our privacy, it may just be a matter of time until our movements are tracked outside just as they are online.

August 23, 2013

Pupils are being pushed into taking exams early and often to meet "damaging" official targets, according to exam board heads in the wake of a larger than expected fall in national GCSE grades. Full story >>

VOCABULARYThe General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was introduced in 1986 (with the first examinations taking place in 1988) replacing the former O Level / CSE qualifications. As well as amalgamating the two fomer examination systems, one of the main changes was to allow students to complete Course Work during their two years of study, which was marked by their teachers and contributed to their final examination grade. [source: Wikipedia] • The proportion of students getting good grades in their chemistry, biology and physics GCSEs has fallen to a 20-year low after exam papers were made tougher.

August 21, 2013

Last week's crossword was about Countries, so I thought I'd follow that up with one about Nationalities. You can download a PDF version (with solution) here, and an interactive web version which will work on iOS devices (unlike the one below) here.

August 15, 2013

A lot of English Blog readers will be travelling abroad for their holidays in August (I'm going to Switzerland!), so this week's crossword is all about Countries. You can download a PDF version of this crossword here, and an interactive web version which will work on iOS devices (unlike the one below) here.

August 14, 2013

Elon Musk reveals his Hyperloop futuristic transport system that he says can transport people from L.A. to San Francisco in just 30 minutes at a fraction of the cost of a plane. Bobbi Rebell reports.

TRANSCRIPTREPORTER: Like a scene out of the popular show Futurama- with people transported by giant tubes- Elon Musk's idea for what he has dubbed the Hyperloop is a solar-powered city-to-city elevated transit system. People would ride in aluminum pods inside steel tubes and travel up to 800 miles per hour. A trip from LA to San Francisco- about 30 minutes. Joshua Schank is president and CEO of the Eno Center for transportation ...JOSHUA SCHANK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ENO CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION: "If this were able to be constructed at the cost he claims and if politics and environmental challenges didn't enter into it, it would be a fantastic way of using that technology and it would tap into a new market and provide tremendous benefits for travelers." REPORTER: This latest Musk project adds to his growing mystique as a tech guru- shares of his Telsa luxury electric car company continue in overdrive. He's also Chairman of solar panel company Solar City - and has space travel company SpaceX. Musk was also the guy behind Pay Pal. Musk revealed the Hyperloop in a 57 page design plan - claiming it would be safer, faster, and cost less than California's planned high-speed rail system. Musk estimates the Hyperloop could be built for $6 billion for the people-only pods- $10 billion for pods that can also hold cars- but Schank is skeptical.JOSHUA SCHANK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ENO CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION: "The estimates I've seen for this seem really low to me for a system that requires rights of way though major metropolitan regions which this one does. Even when you build an elevated, say an elevated train which we do all the time in transportation, there are substantial costs to that in terms of right of way and there are always environmental lawsuits challenging your ability to try to construct such rights of way because people don't always want such elevated things whizzing by their houses."REPORTER: Musk is asking the public for help in improving the design- and says it is an open source concept for anyone to help bring to reality.